Mandatory reporting of all cases of female genital mutilation identified in the UK has now been in place for about 18 months and useful data are emerging.

However, there has still not been a single successful prosecution in the UK, although several cases are currently under police investigation. A major barrier to prosecution is the understandable unwillingness of girls to give evidence in court against family members.

In the last 12 months 8,656 cases were reported of which 5,702 were new referrals to the specialised clinics that treat and care for these women and girl survivors. 106 cases were below the age of 18years. These are people living in the UK who have previously suffered FGM either in their home country or since arrival the UK.

It was International Development questions in the Commons yesterday. Lynne Featherstone was questioned about her work to end Female Genital Mutilation in a generation. She said that the subject should be a required subject on the school curriculum in areas of high prevalence. What I thought was most interesting was that in my young day, you didn’t get Tory dames asking questions about gender equality as Dame Angela Watkinson did. I liked Lynne’s choice of language in her answer. The whole …

Yesterday was Time to Talk Day (#timetotalk), which generated some intensely personal accounts of living with mental illness. It was also the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. It was an unfortunate clash, but the Lib Dem Voice team decided to focus on #timetotalk yesterday and to cover the FGM campaign before and after the event.

Please note that the second paragraph of this article contains some graphic details of the procedure of FGM which some people might find distressing.

I’m very glad to see Liberal Democrats at the forefront of the drive to rid this country and the world of female genital mutilation (FGM), one of the most horrible expressions of male power over the female. The debate about it, around the world, as well as in this country, is often blurred by comparisons with male circumcision, which many people also campaign against actively (and in my view rightly). When the topic of FGM comes …

Police should target “cutters” who perform genital mutilation on girls in Britain, rather than the parents who pay for it, International Development minister Lynne Featherstone says.

The minister, who this week visited Kenya to see how female genital mutilation is being stamped out there, said Britain needs to speed up the first prosecution here to send a warning that the practice will not be tolerated. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985 but nobody has

In my lifetime, the role of women and girls in British society has been transformed. There has been an emancipation revolution.

Many of these changes have been legal. It seems remarkable today to reflect that, until 1975, women were not allowed to buy a house without financial guarantees being provided by a man, typically their father or husband.Other changes have been cultural. It is extraordinary, for example, that until 1972 a female diplomat in the Foreign Office was required to resign if she got married.

As each of these barriers to female attainment has been removed, women have capitalised on the opportunities …